Closer Than Friends
by HP-Forever-XX
Summary: Entry for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Forum, Round 3 - Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw happen to be far closer than most friends... But Rowena suddenly falls sick with a mysterious illness. Helga investigates why. This is by far the most challenging fanfic I've ever written, as it's the first time I've ever dabbled with both the Founders era, and femslash!


**Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Round 3**

_**Team: **_Wigtown Wanderers  
_**Position: **_Beater 1  
_**Additional Prompts: **Open Book _and dialogue: _"Forget about it"  
**Pairing: **_Rowena Ravenclaw/Helga Hufflepuff

* * *

**Closer Than Friends**

Helga Hufflepuff rapped her knuckles lightly on the sturdy wooden door that separated her from the one she most desired to see.

There was no response.

She knocked again, louder this time, yet no voice called out from within the room. "My dear, you have been bed-ridden for an entire day now. Will you not even allow _me _to gain entry to your room?" she called out softly. "You know I value your health and emotions far more than my own."

"Then you are a fool" a shaky voice replied from behind the door. Helga could not suppress the smile that played on her lips at the response she'd finally been granted.

"Indeed I am" she replied light-heartedly.

She was met, once again, with silence.

Growing impatient, the redheaded woman reached for the handle. She had expected some advanced charm to have been placed upon the door, and so was surprised when the handle turned easily in her gentle hand. "Tis worse than I thought" Helga mused to herself.

The door creaked ever so slightly as she pushed it open. Determined not to disrupt anybody, she took extra care to enter the room and close the door behind her, as noiselessly as within her capability. "Colloportus," she muttered, tapping her wand against the wood of the door. A faint click confirmed that the door was now securely locked. And rightly so, for this confrontation deserved privacy.

Helga stood still for a moment, surveying the room and taking in her surroundings. At least what little she could make out, for the entire room had been cast into darkness. A single slither of light had seeped into the room through the opening within the curtains. In a few quick strides, Helga was at the window, flinging aside the curtains manually.

Bright sunlight poured into the room, prompting a groan from the other being that currently resided in the room. "Was that necessary?" the voice snapped irritably. "Would it not have been far simpler and equally effective to have lit a candle?"

Helga chuckled lightly. "My dear, whatever illness you may be suffering from has certainly softened your rational thinking. Sunlight is far more beneficial than a measly candle, and as for manual labour, well a simple pull of the curtains is much less work."

"How ridiculous" the voice sneered dismissively. "A light-hearted flick of any wand requires less effort than physically opening the curtains."

"Though we are blessed with magic, it does not hurt anybody to do things manually every now and again."

"Always the hard-worker, aren't you?" the voice asked cruelly. "This is why _I_ am the one blessed with intelligence."

"Indeed," Helga responded dreamily, not insulted in the slightest. "Tis each our nature."

When no further response followed, Helga turned around to once again survey the room now that it was fully lit. The usual neat and orderly room was strewn with open books and various robes draping the furniture. "Dear, oh dear," Helga muttered under her breath.

There in the centre of the room stood a majestic four poster bed made of rich mahogany. Deep blue linings hung around the bed with elegant strips of bronze, all emblazoned with a mighty eagle. But there amongst the hangings lay a woman so utterly exhausted and distressed, that Helga very nearly let out a cry of despair.

"My dear Rowena," she murmured softly, striding over to her bedside immediately. "Had I known just what state you lay in here, never would I have waited so long before disturbing you."

"You are a fool, Helga" Rowena said in a bored voice.

"So you say." It pained Helga Hufflepuff to see her dear friend in such a state. Rowena Ravenclaw's coal black hair lay tangled and greasy upon her pillow, lacking the usual glossiness and neatness that it usually gleamed with.

"Tell me child," Helga prompted, "what hath deemed you to such a state?"

"I am no child. I am your superior, you fool!"

"Your tongue is indeed sharp and wicked today. You utter words in a tone worthy of Salazar Slytherin himself. I will forgive you your cruelty though. Tis my nature. Tis my heart."

"Leave me, Helga. I require no assistance from either you or any other person in this school." Rowena lifted a weary hand to dismiss her, but it flopped to her side weakly. Helga took it gently in her own.

"My dear, you know it is against my goodwill to leave you in such a state. Speak to me your mind – it hath never prevented you nor hindered you before."

Rowena Ravenclaw could not deny the truth that Helga Hufflepuff spoke with. For it was that woman, and only that woman that she had ever opened up to. Rowena was not as cruel and harsh as their fellow friend and founder, Salazar Slytherin, yet there was a certain intimidating and strict quality about her - a quality that she prided herself on. It meant she was not portrayed as weak. But Helga had a quality that made Rowena understand the easing of pain among other benefits that came with opening up about one's problems, and revealing their true self to another.

"Not this time," she replied coldly. "Words cannot help me in my state. No amount of confiding or reassurance can undo what has been done." She snatched her hand out of Helga's clutches.

"Almost all illnesses are curable," Helga said gently.

"Tis not with an illness that I suffer."

"Speak no more in these riddles, Rowena! Open your heart and speak your mind!" Helga demanded, beginning to lose patience with the fragile woman that lay before her. "You not only hurt yourself with your sorrow, but also those that care most about you!"

A brief flicker of guilt was evident in Rowena's cold, dark eyes, but all too soon they had hardened again, revealing no emotion. "Forgive me my dear Helga, but I will speak no more of this."

"Then I shalt not leave until you do!" she replied stubbornly.

A great sigh elapsed from the weary woman. Her eyes were lined with dark rings, making her appear far older in age than she really was. Beneath the tiredness lay a beautiful woman, and pain coursed through Helga Hufflepuff's heart at the bedraggled sight that now lay before her.

"Do not kneel beside me" Rowena ordered. "Though I may treat you like it sometimes, you are not, nor will you ever be, my inferior."

"Only moments ago you deemed yourself my superior," Helga teased her with a chuckle.

Rowena rolled her eyes. "You know I was merely referring to our ages."

Helga rose to her feet. "Where, pray thee, and in what position shall I stand then?"

"Anywhere that is not my bedroom," she snapped.

Helga smiled sweetly. "Ahh, but that is not an option, my dear."

"Hand me my wand and I shall make it an option!"

Helga opened her mouth to make another light-hearted comment, but before she could do so, something caught her eye. An open book lay on Rowena's bedside table, an intricate diagram of what appeared to be a woman's womb filled the page. Wordlessly she took a step closer to the table, seizing the book in both hands to peer at it in detail.

Rowena cried out at she noticed her movements. "No! You mustn't Helga! Put it down immediately!"

But Helga's eyes were darting over both the image and the text that accompanied it, reading quickly. "Rowena," she choked out. "Tell me this is not so!"

"Put it down immediately!" she ordered, exhausting herself as she tried to snatch the book out of her clutches.

"But it must be so!" Helga confirmed to herself, closing the book quickly to inspect the cover and title. She stroked the single word that filled the top of the book cover. "Such a simple word, yet such a revealing secret."

"Helga," Rowena pleaded in a pained voice.

Helga turned to stare at her, cradling the book to her bosom protectively, the dark truth finally revealed. "Rowena, you are pregnant" she breathed quietly.

"Helga –"

"You are with child are you not?" she asked more loudly. "And do not answer with one of your riddles, for this book doth not lie!" She dropped the book onto the bed as though to prove her accusation were accurate. The single word seemed to stand out bold and dark as Rowena glanced down at it with shame. _Pregnancy._

Before Rowena could so much as reply, Helga was storming around the room picking up each open book that lay there, and then throwing them down in disgust. "None of them lie!" she cried out. "You are with child and you have kept this from me!"

"A day, Helga, a day is all I've known! You burst in here demanding that I tell you why I suffer so, refusing to leave my side until I do, yet despite all my reluctance you discover the truth anyway, and then you have the sheer nerve to act infuriated by this information? The information you were so stubborn as to learn of!"

There was silence as the accusation rang around the room. "You speak the truth," Helga admitted quietly, misery in her tone. "I have wronged you by acting in this way. I am sorry, my dear Rowena – you are not to blame for my reaction, after all, you fought so hard to protect me."

Rowena began to calm down, laying down exhaustedly. "Forgive me, I beg of you," Helga pleaded, walking back towards the bed.

"Tis I that should seek forgiveness," Rowena replied sullenly. "Of all people that I know, it was you that I was most frightened to tell."

"You should never be frightened of me my dear," Helga said affectionately, "for though I may have my moments of weakness, one of which you just witnessed, it is you that I will always remain most loyal too."

"Your loyalty is a curse."

"Tis merely my nature."

"So you constantly say."

There was a brief silence that fell upon the room. Eventually Helga perched on the edge of the bed, staring Rowena in her dark eyes. "You are quite sure?" she asked.

"You insult my intelligence by inferring that I may not be certain!"

"Forgive me, Rowena, I am still in shock with such news."

"You are always forgiven, Helga" Rowena replied endearingly. "I must admit, I too was in great shock when I first suspected, and even more so when I confirmed my fear. Why do you think I hath been hiding in the shadows?"

"What of the father?" she asked, ignoring Rowena's last question.

"It matters not."

"Rowena, it matters to me," she pressed.

"Forget about it!" she snapped. "I will talk no more of whom fathers my child. If it be not Godric or Salazar, then what does it matter to you?" she inquired.

"You _know_ why," Helga informed her sulkily.

Once again, silence fell in the room, while both women pondered the situation. Sunlight continued to stream through the window, highlighting the bed where the two women were. "Your fiery hair doth gleam in this sunlight," Rowena mused affectionately, breaking the silence.

"I don't believe I've ever heard such soft words uttered from your tongue," Helga teased.

"You and I both know that is simply not the case."

"Perhaps not."

"Now help me rise," she ordered.

Helga leaned in over Rowena, gently seizing her by the shoulders and pulling her forwards so that she was sat upright.

"If that be the sight that befalls me each time you lean in, then perhaps I ought to lie back down and order you to help me rise once more," Rowena interjected suggestively.

"And what sight be that?" Helga inquired mischievously.

"Why it be the soft and plump flesh that adorn your chest like two ripe fruits!"

"My lady!" Helga gasped in mock surprise, "You _are _bad! Though your words like poetry do charm me."

"I'd rather hoped it was more than my words that charmed you."

"But of course, my dear, but of course."

In that moment, the two young women's eyes locked, both shining with delight and adoration for the woman they stared at in return, Helga Hufflepuff's a soft and enchanting blue, and Rowena Ravenclaw's a dark and mysterious pair, the colour of midnight.

Slowly and softly, Helga leaned in, pressing her sweet, plump lips to Rowena's trembling ones. Heart pounding, Rowena wrapped her arms around Helga in response, drawing her in tightly. The entwined couple fell onto the bed lightly, lips still pressed together tightly yet affectionately.

Helga drew away first, for she could feel just how weak Rowena was beneath her. "Why do you tremble so?" she asked.

"Do not stop," she begged. "I tremble only with anticipation for your body to be pressed against mine, and your lips to also be pressed against mine."

"You are frail Rowena. You lack the strength you had when we first began this sordid love affair." She sat up so that she were straddling the dark-haired woman's waist, looking down upon her.

"Then give me strength Helga. In this past year of scandalous yet passionate romance we have shared, you have made me feel a strength, among other things, that I have never felt before. I need you to give me my strength when I cannot conjure it myself."

"My dear, there are plenty a spell or potion to help you gain strength, yet no kiss of mine will grant you the strength you require."

"You are sorely mistaken," Rowena said seriously.

"You are to be a mother, and to be a successful one you require a strong and sturdy man by your side," she informed her sternly.

"Don't taunt me so, Helga! What good will a man be, for it is because of a man that I find myself in this position!"

"This position in which my thighs are planted securely by your waist and you are at my mercy?" she teased her seductively.

"Oh Helga, why do you torment me so?" she groaned. "Place your lips against mine once more. Run your fingers through my hair, and nibble on my tender ear lobe. Grant me the passion and pleasure I am so craving from you right now, but do not sit astride me and tease me with such things!"

"Tis no surprise that you are with child, my lady, if this is how easily you succumb to your desire," she chuckled.

"If you seek only to torment me with suggestions of your passion, then I command thee to leave my chambers at once!" she cried, half joking and half serious.

"So be it," Helga said cheerily, removing herself from astride her lover and making towards the door.

"Though it is true that you give me strength, you greatly wear me out with your games," Rowena sighed loudly.

Helga chortled with delight. "My dear I knew you would not bear to watch me leave. For this is the beauty of the relationship we share – not only are we lovers, but we are also close friends."

"Perhaps the closest two friends could be!"

"And so that is all we must remain, for I was perfectly serious when I said you needed a man by your side."

"I already have _two_ men by my side – Godric and Salazar. I need no others," she replied stubbornly.

"So be it my dear, but what if Godric and Salazar were to discover our little secret?"

"Who's to say they don't have one of their own?" she teased.

Helga gasped loudly. "Rowena! Surely you are not suggesting that our fellow founders are also engaging in such scandalous acts as we so frequently do?" she asked quickly.

"I was merely joking, my dear Helga; I do not suspect this for an instant. They bicker like mortal enemies, without a trace of what we share."

"And what exactly is it that we share?" Helga prompted gently.

"Why, it be love of course!"

"Love?" Helga asked her wondrously. "Rowena my dear, surely you are not suggesting that you are in love with me?"

"Why yes Helga, I rather think I am!"

"Well if that be the case then I too feel so inclined as to speak of my burning feelings for you."

"Go on," Rowena prompted her. "Tell me of these burning feelings."

"Rowena," Helga said affectionately, "I rather think that in this moment in time, and perhaps many moments from now..."

"Yes my dear?"

"... I love you too."


End file.
